The field of the invention is the production of seafood.
The earliest history of the human race shows us as hunter-gatherers, who took what the land produced for our own purposes. These hunter-gatherers were part of the natural scene rather than changing the natural scene for their own purposes. About 7,000 to 8,000 years ago in the Middle East, this changed with the domestication of wild animals, such as the cow, pig, goat, sheep and dog. At that point, our ancestors began herding domestic animals to the best pastures with changing seasons and conditions. Our ancestors continued to hunt and gather food, but found herding more productive. This trend continued with the domestication of the horse in the arid regions of Western Asia.
Then about 5,500 years ago, a new invention swept the then-civilized world. This invention was the mold-board plow, which increased the productivity of a farmer by about a factor of seven. It also changed the way we looked at the land, from passive acceptance to active intervention. This change resulted in the planting of favorite crops, rather than accepting what had always grown there. Our ancestors also began to add water and nutrients to the soil, to further increase productivity.
These transitions were not always smooth or without controversy. For many years, there was a free range in the Western states of the United States of America. At that time, some argued strongly against fences, roads, houses, farms and railroads. They argued that cities would follow such encroachments on the free range, and they were right.
While such transitions have progressed considerably on the land resulting in an increase in output of about two thousand times, they have hardly begun on the oceans which cover almost three fourths of the earth""s surface. A similar return in the increased productivity of the oceans may be achieved by similar changes.
The fishermen and the fisherwomen of the world have known for many years that there is a great variation in the productivity of the different areas of the oceans and other bodies of water. Recently, the extent of this variation has been measured and the reasons for it determined. It is now known that about 60% of all life in the ocean arises from 2% of the ocean surface. Thus, the ocean may be considered as a vast barren desert with only a few verdant zones where life abounds. These verdant zones are easy to spot. For most of the ocean surface, you can see about 150 to 300 feet (about 46 to 91 meters) through the water, as you can see in the Gulf Stream. In contrast, you can see only a few feet through the water in the productive zones of the oceans because the living matter in the water is so dense. This is the case in the natural upwelling off the coast of Peru.
Samples have been taken from these productive zones, and from other areas of the ocean. The difference has been determined. The productive zones of the ocean are rich in iron, phosphorus, nitrogen and trace minerals, while the rest of the ocean is missing one or more of these elements. These fertilizing minerals are required in order to obtain the maximum production of seafood from a given area in the ocean. There is considerable variance in the nutrients present in different zones of the ocean surface, and samples must be taken and analyzed in order to ascertain the exact level of nutrients required to obtain the productivity of the Peruvian upwelling.
The oceans differ from the land in several regards: (1) there is never a drought in the oceans; (2) the oceans move; and (3) the oceans mix both vertically and horizontally. The first difference means that the oceans need only minor constituents in order to achieve improved productivity. The second difference means that the fertilization may be carried out at a location that is quite distant from the location where the harvesting of seafood is carried out. The third difference means that the fertilization must be carried out on a large scale, or the results of the fertilization may be impossible to find.
Methods of increasing seafood production in the ocean are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,433,173 and 5,535,701, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
A method of improved production of seafood in the open ocean is achieved by (1) testing the water at the ocean surface in order to determine the nutrients that are missing or are in too low concentration, (2) using a fertilizer that releases an appropriate amount these nutrients over time and in a form that remains available to the phytoplankton (for example, the nutrients should not leave the photic zone by precipitation to any substantial extent) to fertilize the ocean, (3) seeding the fertilized ocean with favored phytoplankton and fish and (4), harvesting the seafood that is produced by the fertilization. The testing may be carried out by any of a number of methods that are known to one of ordinary skill in the art, in order to ascertain the nutrients that are missing to a significant extent from the water. A nutrient is missing to a significant extent, if the production of seafood would be reduced to a significant extent by the level of the nutrient in the water. An appropriate amount of a missing nutrient is an amount to raise the concentration of the nutrient at the ocean surface so that the production of seafood is no longer reduced to a significant extent by the concentration of the nutrient.
The fertilization of the barren ocean to increase seafood production may be carried out with a fertilizer system that comprises one or more fertilizers. If the ocean water is missing nitrates, then the fertilizers should comprise nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, such as blue green algae and phytoplankton (such as Trichodesmium) which fix nitrogen in the open ocean, and sufficient nutrients to cause the bloom of these microorganisms should these microorganisms be missing or be in too low a concentration. The addition of iron may be the only nutrient required to cause blue green algae and phytoplankton (such as Trichodesmium) to bloom and to fix nitrogen but iron must be added in a form that protects the iron from reaction with the ocean water so that the iron does not precipitate but remains in the photic zone where it can fertilize the ocean plant life. This can best be done by adding iron in a form of a chelate. If needed, the chelate may be added in slow release pellets to release the iron slowly into the ocean water.
The fertilizer system should provide the other (non-nitrate and non-iron) nutrients that are missing from the ocean water. Since these nutrients, principally phosphate, may react with the iron chelate if the concentrations of the phosphate and the iron chelate in the ocean water are both high, these other nutrients should also preferably be added to the ocean water in the form of slow release pellets, or in the case of phosphoric acid, a dilute solution may be used. These slow release pellets should release each fertilizing element into the photic zone in a form that does not precipitate or otherwise remove these elements from the photic zone. This can be done by applying the phosphate and/or iron fertilizer separately from the other nutrient fertilizer, such as from opposite sides of a large boat, or from companion boats.
The fertilizer pellets are compounded to achieve a density of less than seawater so that they float, releasing their fertilizing elements at or near the ocean surface. This can be done by attaching the fertilizing elements to a float material such as glass or ceramic bubbles, and plastic foam, or by introducing gas bubbles into the fertilizer pellets during manufacture. The fertilizer pellets may also comprise a binder such as plastic, wax, high molecular-weight starch or a combination thereof, which provides the timed release of the fertilizing elements to the ocean water.
Many areas of the ocean that may be suitable for increasing seafood production by this method do not have indigenous fish populations that can prosper from the increased plant life produced. Therefore, it may be useful to seed the fertilized ocean with selected fish species such as filter feeders that can eat the phytoplankton and zooplankton produced. The harvesting of these seeded fish stocks and other pelagic and migratory fish attracted to the fertilized ocean area may be carried out at the point of application of the fertilizer system, but at a later time, or when ocean currents are involved, the harvesting may be carried out at a point downstream of where the fertilizers are applied, and downstream of where any seeding occurs.